“`Outsider` Content and Software”

The Music Industry In The Digital Economy

In the boundless ocean of the digital culture , everything should appear as a blessing . In the music industry , however , the digital age has been seen as a mixed blessing . Because of piracy or MP3 's , whichever name we give to the mixed blessing of the digital economy as it concerns the music industry , the digital economy is presently not in a state to flourish as much as possible even if the steadily rising numerical figures related to the growth of electronic commerce tell us another

tale . In the year 1998 e-commerce was a relatively new experience in the business world . All the same , business to consumer online shopping hundred percent in the course of a year (Muhammad , 1999 , 72

The music industry has reaped the benefits of its online presence along with the entire digital economy . In particular , the music industry has been diligently selling physical products over the Internet as well as music downloads . All industry sectors in the digital age are enjoying the grace of computerization over traditional work . In the music industry , the diffusion of digital music formats allows for the dematerialization and dispersal of music channels as far as music distribution is concerned (Jones , 2002 . The major music labels are facing heightened competition in the face of technological change . The Big Five of the music industry , that is , BMG Entertainment , Sony , AOL Time Warner , EMI , and Vivendi Universal Music Group , historically holding eighty percent of the music market share , have seen a reduction in their market power in the area of distribution (Fox , 2004 Independent music labels are on the rise . More affordable equipment for music production and reception has created opportunities for new players in the industry (Bemis , 2004 . Yet , there is a downside to the digital age with regards to the music industry . Artists cannot always make money by selling their hits because music on the Internet can be obtained for free . Metallica has sued a company by the name of Napster that used music-swapping software (Mann , 2000 , 39 . And , artists with whole albums out in the market cannot make their albums popular over the free mix of songs that consumers find available on the Internet Listeners generally pick the best songs on the album through the Internet and add these to a nice mix of songs of various artists on their Ipod 's . As a result , album sales have fallen (Drew , 2005

Digital technologies make the production and commercialization of music less costly . In the year 2000 , global sales of CDs , cassettes and vinyl records amounted to around 37 billion . In 1999 , this figure was approximately 38 .5 billion , and in 1995 it was 41 .5 billion . The United States is the world 's largest music market , where recording sales are said to have been declining and reaching market saturation . In 2000 , music sales in the world 's largest music market dropped 2 .6 percent , while sales of CD singles slumped by 36 percent . Even music...